The world is now ruled by technology. To accomplish tasks and work faster, we rely on the help of automation and computers. Some groups fear that machines will soon replace workers, while some believe that mechanization is just a form of assistance and cannot replace human talent. Whichever your belief is, we can all agree that technology brings countless benefits to us.
When it comes to accounting, there are many applications that can help you do the job. Today, we will talk about Xero Accounting Software—a means for accountants and bookkeepers to track data and transactions easier and safer than manual means. If you are thinking of signing up for it, let us encourage you more by providing the 10 benefits you’ll reap by using Xero small business software.
1. Expenses and income are tracked, even in multicurrency
Among the tasks you or your accountants and bookkeepers need to accomplish are expenses and income tracking, which are better done automatically.
Through Xero Software, the bills you pay are tracked through automated online payments or by taking photos of the receipts.
The payments from your clients are also automatically stored in the system, especially when they pay bank-to-bank or via credit and debit cards. You can enjoy this regardless of the currency used because of the multicurrency feature.
2. Flexible and comprehensive payment options
A wide range of payment options is beneficial for both you and your clients. You can quickly pay vendor dues, and your clients can conveniently pay you through these different payment options:
- Bank-to-bank transactions
- Credit cards
- Debit cards
- GoCardless
- Stripe
- PayPal
- ApplePay
- Transferwise
Through Xero, your business can adapt to the trend of cashless transactions. All the money coming in and out of these payment options are automatically tracked by Xero through bank, Stripe, Paypal, and Transferwise feeds.
3. Convenience in tracking projects and employee work time
If you are working on different projects and have several employees, you can organize the projects together with the time rendered by each worker through Xero. By the end of every cutoff, the data you get from the timesheet can automatically be inputted into an invoice for payment. The payment will then fall under your expenses data.
You can also send quotes to clients about projects for their approval before any collaboration begins. By the end of the transaction, your clients can send their electronic payments right away.
4. Tracks every dime coming in and out of your bank account
Xero makes bank reconciliation possible. Once your bank account is connected to the software, the transactions are imported to the software automatically, sorted, and categorized for tracking and reporting. If there are details that are not indexed, Xero will send you an alert. These transactions either need to be tagged or investigated in case there is fraud going on. This reconciliation is done daily, or you can also do it in bulk to check if the bank money matches the data on Xero.
5. Xero Accounting Software has got your sales taxes covered
Taxes are one of the most complicated areas of business that you need to go through, but they are made easier through Xero’s automatic sales tax and returns calculation. You need to input as many tax rates as you can for each item for the system to calculate the sales tax automatically. You can also optimize your data by adding tax rates for specific contacts, products, or accounts. Then, you can generate a sales tax report which you can also use to generate tax returns.
6. Stress-free creation and tracking of invoices
Are you tired of creating invoices over and over again, especially for recurring transactions? Why not create a template, schedule the invoices, and automatically remind your clients about the dues they need to pay through Xero? Moreover, you can instantly receive payments from your customers as invoices appear with a “Pay Now” call-to-action button. The money that enters your account will be tracked accordingly by the system. Note that you can send these invoices whether you are on a computer or on your phone.
7. Integrate essential software into Xero
Xero allows software integration, so you can only look at a single software to assess your business’s health. Here are some of the software you can integrate:
- Trello: Trello is a project and employee tracking software you can incorporate into Xero.
- Gusto Payroll: Gusto is an application that calculates payroll automatically. You can integrate this to Xero, so all payroll details are also in your Xero system.
- Gmail and Office 365: Conveniently import contact details to Xero to generate invoices faster.
8. Generates reports anytime and anywhere
Many reports are generated automatically on Xero’s dashboard, such as expense claims, income, profitability, unreconciled bank transactions, and your company snapshot. There are still more templates you can choose from, and you can even customize the reports to check specific data or key performance indicators.
On top of these reports is Xero Analytics which focuses on tracking your cash flow. The feature generates reports based on all the data tracked by the system. It can also show a forecast report on how your cash flow will look if the same trends continue.
9. Data security is Xero’s top priority
Xero is a software that has passed different data security standards, so you are assured that confidential data about your business is protected.
On your end, you can protect the financial particulars of your business by controlling who can access your Xero account despite the multiple access feature. In addition, you can enable multi-factor authentication to get a notification and accompanying authentication code whenever anyone tries to log into your account.
10. Affordable pricing
With all the assistance you can get from the software, you will surely get your money’s worth. Xero has different plans depending on your business size, but from just $11 per month, you can begin enjoying some of the software features. If you want unlimited access, you can sign up for the $32 per month plan.
Before deciding, check out the details of the plan and consider what your business needs at the moment.
Final Thoughts
The capabilities of the Xero software are impressive with all the manual tasks that it can take out of your or your accountant’s and bookkeeper’s hands. You can use the time and effort you save to plan your next steps in growing your business.
If you are still wondering how to use Xero software, we at Unloop will be happy to assist you. Send us a message or give us a call, as we have a remote accounting and bookkeeping team ready to help you anytime!